----- Original Message ----- From: Sid Shniad <shniad at SFU.CA> To: <SOCIALIST-REGISTER at YorkU.CA> Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2000 10:10 AM Subject: REMEMBER SEATTLE - The Washington Post
> The Washington Post January 30, 2000
>
> REMEMBER SEATTLE
>
> By John J. Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO
>
> It is time we asked ourselves: What is the fundamental test of
> globalization?
> In all the talk about whether global markets are more open or
> less open, we've lost view of the market's fundamental role in a
> democratic society. An open market is a means to an end, and the
> end is human development.
> The question is whether globalization is empowering the many,
> not just the few. Is it helping to lift the poor from poverty? Are its
> blessings shared widely? Does it work for working people?
> Through that lens, it's easy to see why the global market forged
> in the past decade is now being called to account. The recent global
> financial crisis was an economic five-alarm fire. Seattle provided a
> political wake-up call. Both suggest the current course cannot be
> sustained, nor should it be.
> Globalization has tremendous potential to lift people around the
> world. It's creating vast new wealth. But financial crises are
> growing more frequent and severe, and inequality is rising, as the
> United Nations reports, both among and within nations. This means
> that the seeds for rejection of globalization are in every political
> system, in developed nations as well as developing nations.
> Freedom, as Nobel prize-winner Amartya Sen teaches us, is
> both the object and the means of development. Yet more direct
> private investment goes to developing nations that are not
> democratic than to those that are--even when China is not counted
> in the calculation.
> That's why Seattle is so important. The protests in the streets by
> workers, environmentalists, farmers and students from across the
> world were mirrored by the anger inside the hall from developing-
> country delegates who felt just as locked out as the demonstrators.
> If we care about equitable, sustainable development, then the
> impact on people--not only incomes but the environment, health,
> food safety, debt forgiveness and democratic participation--can no
> longer simply be left to chance.
> Understand the message of Seattle. It wasn't an isolationist
> rejection of open markets. It was a call for new global rules,
> democratically developed. Workers North and South marched
> together. And the many different voices made one clear statement:
> Fundamental reform is needed.
> If the global system continues to generate growing inequality,
> environmental destruction and a race to the bottom for working
> people, then it will generate an increasingly volatile reaction that
> will make Seattle look tame.
> Leaders of the global institutions face a legitimacy crisis that
> cannot be solved by better public relations. Their institutions will
> become more accountable, or more irrelevant.
> Leaders of developing nations face a growing inequality of
> income and hope. They should not be forced into one economic
> straitjacket. They will either find ways to empower workers and
> protect the environment, or they will face growing popular
> resistance.
> Global nongovernmental organizations raise fundamental
> concerns. Now it is important for the NGOs to go from opposing
> what is to proposing what can be. They must not assume that the
> price of development requires cashing in basic human rights.
> Heads of global corporations and banks will be held
> accountable for how they do business--by consumers, by workers,
> by governments. Leaders of the corporate community should join
> the effort to build enforceable laws that put limits on cutthroat
> competition. It is in the self-interest of multinational corporations
> and the governments that regulate them to have rules that are
> agreed upon by all.
> Labor leaders across the world also must change to meet the
> new challenges. At the AFL-CIO, we know that we have to deepen
> our own growing internationalism, and develop new sophistication
> in bargaining and organizing across national lines.
> We also recognize that we must join our voices with those in
> developing countries calling for high-road development strategies.
> We must work to ensure that developing countries are no longer
> crippled by unpayable debt burdens and that they have the
> resources to engage in trade negotiations on an equal footing as
> well as the technical support to implement and enforce labor and
> environmental standards.
> Seattle marked a crossroads. Now, joined by millions of others
> across the world, we will press for core workers' rights that are the
> basis of economic freedom and equitable development.
>
>
> This article is adapted from a speech to the World Economic Forum
> in Davos, Switzerland.